Disclaimer: Hey Arnold! and The Jungle Movie storyline belong to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon.

Arnold Shortman slipped into his new 5th grade classroom, after having extended vacation while the school searched for a new 5th grade teacher.

He made his way to an empty desk, right next to his best friend, Gerald.

"Hey Arnold, what happened to you yesterday? Why didn't you come to DinoLand with the rest of us?" Harold called from a few seats back.

Arnold felt his cheeks grow hot. "I, um, I had something to, uh, do. Sorry, I'll definitely come next time," he answered, looking down. As soon as he knew no one was paying attention to him anymore, he turned to Gerald. "I've got something really cool to show you at lunch," he whispered.

Gerald raised an eyebrow, but made no comment. Everyone quieted down when Principal Wartz came in.

"Hello, class. As you all know, my name is Principal Wartz. I hope you all had fun on your extended Summer vacation, while us people in charge slaved away trying to find a replacement teacher." He looked over his glasses at the students. "Anyway, since every single teacher in this whole city is currently working, we bumped up your old teacher, Mr. Simmons, from 4th grade to 5th grade. Here he is," Principal Wartz finished, and moved out of the way to let Mr. Simmons walk in.

"Hello boys and girls! I was so very excited to hear that I will be teaching you a second time, so I decided that instead of doing work, we'll play some fun games! Doesn't that sound great?"

The class looked blankly at him.

Mr. Simmons cleared his throat and tugged at his collar. "Um, well then, I suppose we don't have to do that. We'll just get started doing some-"

He was cut off my Principal Wartz yelling "PSST!" and motioning for the teacher to come out in the hallway.

Mr. Simmons glanced up from some papers he was holding, then smiled at the class. "Well, it seems that your principal would like to have a private word with me in the hallway. Just talk amongst yourselves until my return," he told them, then left the classroom.

As soon as he was in the hallway, he turned to the principal. "What is it, Wartz?"

"I've just been informed that the city is holding an essay contest, and P.S. 118 has been chosen to be one of the participants. I have to go around to every classroom and ask the teachers if they would like their class to be in it. Since you have so many bright students, I thought I'd start here. Do you accept the offer?" Principal Wartz finished, cracking his knuckles.

"Oh, definitely! What do they have to do?"

"Well, I have to choose one class from each grade to try out. They all write essays on where they would like to go more than anywhere else in the world. They hand in their essays to you, and you submit them to me. I will choose the best essay, and that student will represent P.S. 118. I give their essay to the people in charge of the contest, and they choose a winner from all 5 schools participating. If we win, the student's class gets to go to the place the student picked out. Any questions?"

Mr. Simmons grinned and shook his head. "No, Mr. Wartz, thank you," he said, then opened the door to his classroom.

The children's heads jerked up when their teacher walked back in. "Class, I have some very exciting news. Our city is holding an essay contest!" He then proceeded to tell the students about the rules and what was going to happen.

"If you want to participate, please sign your name on the board," he finished, gesturing to the black board at the front of the room.

Half of the class stood up and strolled to the board, scribbling their names in chalk.

Arnold was one of them.